Backlights and Gaze: When Fashion Turns Raw… for the #monomad challenge

The first time I stood in front of a runway, I wasn’t looking to capture glamour.
I wanted to understand the soul behind the spectacle.

It was 2019. I held a Canon 60D in my hands, a 50mm f/1.8 lens, and a flash I was barely learning to control. The runway was buzzing with Cuban and foreign brands, sure. But what truly pulled me in weren’t the logos. It was the energy. The tension before the entrance. The silence shattered by a single firm step. That exact moment when someone stops being just a person and becomes a character… then turns human again when they think no one is watching.

Right there, in the artificial smoke and harsh lighting, I realized something:
fashion isn’t just about aesthetics.
It’s about identity.
Sometimes it’s a scream. Sometimes a mask.
And sometimes, like in these images, it’s pure provocation thrown at the world.

Black and white helped me isolate that rawness.
No distractions.
No glitter.
Just light and shadow telling the story our eyes don’t always dare to speak.

This series doesn’t aim to beautify. It aims to reveal.
To reveal flesh, defiance, bold walks.
To reveal those who wear fashion on their skin… and those who watch from the shadows.

Because sometimes, the truest part of a runway isn’t in the clothes.
It’s in the contrast.